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It was creative cheapness with a surplus latching relay that surely costs more brand new than a 4-zone controller would today. ~ Zones 1 and 2 operate normally, and zone 3 trips the latching relay. Then the second watering cycle sends the power from zones 1 and 2 through the relay contacts to operate zones 3 and 4. After zone 4 is done watering, the controller again trips the latching relay, and all the watering is done.

EDIT: I also bought 90% of my parts from SW. The poly pipe was just too bulky to ship and still be cost effective.

Ok, so I finally remembered to grab a cell phone picture.

The small module at the top left is actually a 16 channel Ethernet controller. It is tied into my home network and can be controlled by a built in web interface or by SNMP. It's an awesome little piece of kit and only costs about $70. It then ties into a 16 channel relay board toward the bottom of the pic. The relay board uses a few Texas Instruments IC's to take the low voltage digital output of the Ethernet controller and step it up to 5v so the relays will latch. The relays are rated for 10 amps at 120vac but I doubt I will ever put 120vac through them, too dangerous.

I have 7 zones running off 6 channels (Zones 1 and 7 run simultaneous as Zone 1). I actually designed the schematic for this board and did the etching of the copper clad PCB. Drilled the holes for the components and soldered them. The three black wires are the zone valve wiring.

At the very bottom of the pic is the distribution terminal I use to supply 3.3vdc, 5vdc, 12vdc, and 24vac to my various projects. The DC voltage is supplied by an old computer power supply and the 24vac is supplied by a wall wart. This powers the zone valves and will eventually power my outdoor security cameras. Everything is kind of mocked up right now as I can't decide how I want it all mounted.

Here is the basic interface I built to manage scheduling. It's written in C# and the schedules are actually stored in a SQL server database, so in the future I can change schedules from any browser or smart phone. It communicates with the Ethernet controller by way of SNMP. I planned on coding something pretty like JackSparrow's but life has been busy planning a wedding. Since the Ethernet controller also has 8 digital inputs I would love to build some sort of distributed soil moisture detection so I can programmatically vary watering times based on soil moisture content instead of just a rain sensor:

This setup, plays a large role in my home automation projects and I will probably have to expand it in the future as I have plans for building water leak detection throughout the house coupled to a main shut off valve. A flooded house is one of my biggest fears after a house fire. X10 door/window alarm sensors are easily converted into wireless water sensors If you look at the left side of the relay board you'll see a blue cat 5 wire. This is running into the garage and I use it to remotely open/close the garage door with my cell phone.

This post has been edited 2 times, last edit by "ReddHead" (May 8th 2012, 1:07pm)

Serpico, why do I get the feeling you work for Irrigation Caddy?
Tell you what, You asked why the pros on this site haven't embraced your product. Go ahead and send me a 12 station with all the extras and I'll hook it up at my house.
You can't expect people to recommend a product they've never seen before. Do you sell them at Hydroscape or Ewing? That's where I shop.

Serpico, why do I get the feeling you work for Irrigation Caddy?
Tell you what, You asked why the pros on this site haven't embraced your product. Go ahead and send me a 12 station with all the extras and I'll hook it up at my house.
You can't expect people to recommend a product they've never seen before. Do you sell them at Hydroscape or Ewing? That's where I shop.

No I don't work for IC. I'm just looking for a new controller that is more modern than the dial and button controllers. IC seems to fit the bill. I'm just doing my homework, and I'm just a bit perplexed why many people on this board just don't give IC the love. What is wrong with IC?

I'm a repairman. I repair sprinkler systems. I don't want anything to do with people's computers. Most pros feel the same way. If you want it go ahead and install it but don't call me to do any repairs on it.
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What's wrong with it? I don't have a clue. They don't exist in my world.